Matsuyama Castle Tsutsui Gate

The largest gate on the hill

Matsuyama Castle Tsutsui Gate (松山城筒井門, Tsutsui-mon) is a single-storey gatehouse standing at the lower level of the main enclosure of Matsuyama Castle in Marunouchi, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, rebuilt in 1971 and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 29, 2022.

It is the largest gate at the castle, 52 square metres of floor area set between two stone ramparts, with a main opening and a side wicket. Above the passage runs a turret storey, and adjoining turrets extend from it to east and west, so the gate and its two wings form a single continuous barrier across the approach.

The gate that stood here until 1949 was lost to arson. Castle tradition holds that Kato Yoshiaki, who began building Matsuyama Castle in 1602, moved several important gates and turrets here from his earlier stronghold at Masaki, and the Tsutsui Gate is named among them. The account is transmitted rather than documented, and the Matsuyama Castle office presents it as such. What is certain is that the present structure was completed in March 1971, rebuilt in timber from surviving records.

Why it was registered in 2022

Twenty-one structures at Matsuyama Castle carry the Important Cultural Property designation, which applies only to buildings that came through intact. The Tsutsui Gate burned, so the register created in 1996 applies instead, covering works that contribute to the historic landscape of Japan. Registration came on June 29, 2022, three years after the nine rebuilt structures of the keep compound and two years before the four around the Taiko Gate.

The reasoning given by Matsuyama City is worth stating plainly: a structure thought to date from the founding of the castle was destroyed by arson, and the city rebuilt it in timber, faithfully, on the basis of existing records rather than approximating it in concrete. That decision, taken at a time when reinforced concrete was the usual answer, is what the registration recognises.

What to look for

Face the gate from the south and look at the wall of the turret storey. It is a taiko wall, built as a double skin like the head of a drum, packed to stop musket balls. Set into it are loopholes in two shapes, square for firearms and rectangular for arrows, and above the doors themselves the floor is cut with a narrow slit. That slit is the detail most visitors walk past. It allowed defenders directly above to fire down on anyone working at the doors, at a range of a couple of metres.

Inside the turret storey there is no ceiling. The roof structure is left open, rafters and boarding visible, which is how these buildings were normally finished; comfort was not a consideration.

The setting matters as much as the building. Immediately east stands the Kakuremon, a small hidden gate designated an Important Cultural Property and thought to date from around 1600, placed in the shadow of the Tsutsui Gate's rampart so that defenders could emerge behind an attacking force. To the west, the Tonashimon, a gate that never had doors, funnels the approach towards this one. The Tsutsui Gate was the point where that funnel closed.

Visiting

Matsuyama Castle Tsutsui Gate stands outside the ticketed area. The Honmaru courtyard and the approach to it cost nothing, so the gate can be seen and walked through free of charge, though it is opened and closed at set times and cannot be passed outside them. The interior of the turret storey is not open to visitors.

Two routes reach it. From the ropeway or chair lift at Chojagadaira, the path leads down past the Tonashimon and through this gate in about 5 minutes. From the Ninomaru side, the Kuromonguchi approach climbs on stone steps past the ruined Ote gate, the Tonashimon, the Tsutsui Gate and the Taiko Gate to the Honmaru courtyard, roughly 40 minutes on foot. The ropeway and chair lift share a return ticket at 520 yen for adults and 260 yen for children; entry to the keep compound beyond, which is separate, costs 520 yen and 160 yen.

Ropeway hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the keep is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with seasonal variation in August and in December and January. Photography for personal use is unrestricted; live streaming, drones and large equipment are prohibited, and commercial shoots need prior application to the castle office.